Saturday, October 25, 2008

Finished Exams

I finished my midterm exams last Wednesday and they seem to have gone well. I should have all of my marks by Monday. The marks I have so far, are pretty good. A couple of courses are giving a lot of people trouble and quite a few people are scared that they failed the exams for those courses. Those are the two courses that weed people out of first year. The attrition between first year and second year of my program is about 25%.

I'm a bit baffled by the people in my class, who don't realize how much they need to study. As the semester has gone on, I've adapted and improved my studying to accommodate the learning that's required by the program. A lot of other people just seem to use the same bad study habits over and over and then hope for the best. They're not doing so well and seem to spend a lot of time complaining about how "unfair" things are. Expecting you to learn and apply what you have learned is not unfair, it is required! I used to constructively argue with "the complainers" and give them some advice on how to be more successful. They've bought into the "it's not fair" mindset and won't listen to anyone who doesn't support it. Now when people complain I keep my mouth shut and start reading something or just wander off someplace. It really is unfortunate because they're all pretty intelligent, decent and sensible people. They just have blinders on and don't know it.

I did a job shadow with the staff at a local hospital's RT department a couple weeks ago. It was a really good experience. I watched the cardioversion of an atrial flutter, a tracheotomy being performed and the bronchoscopic biopsy of a vocal chord tumour. The hospital that I went to, seems to be the best one for job shadows. The people who go to that hospital always come back with good stories. One of the people who went there last week, actually got to bag a patient.

It's a Saturday morning. I got up at 6AM, made some coffee and started studying. That's nothing to brag about, that's just what needs to be done. I'm now studying material that was covered in a lecture on October 15th...

3 comments:

  1. I'm surprised by this, but there are very few people in my class that complain about the workload. Granted, it's not that big right now (we're all only taking 7 units for RT), so my expectation is that everyone is passing, but that's just not the case. There are a few people in my class who I feel don't like what we're doing and complain a lot (especially about the math). Personally, I love math, and I prefer simple algebraic equations over theory, any day. However, since it all goes hand in hand, it just makes sense... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know exactly what you mean. I've tried many, many different study habits and methods and it has taken me more than long enough to finally adapt to the workload. Everyone will complain that it isn't "fair" that I make good grades. But then when I ask them how much they study, it's usually only about an hour a day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Diana Lyn:
    Math isn't my strength, the theory is. When I run into a new formula or equation, I always try to figure out what the concepts associated with it are all about. After understanding the underlying the concepts, I find the math easy. If I don't do that, things don't work so well. Unfortunately, that's kind of an arduous process sometimes.

    my-rt-life:
    Thinking that you only need to study for about an hour a day, requires a special kind of stupid and or wishful thinking.

    ReplyDelete